Embassy Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 My son just turned 7 and is in 1st grade. His reading skills are excellent for his age, but his phonics skills are quite a bit behind his reading ability. I'm not sure how he is reading like he is. He is currently reading chapter books without much difficulty. My older son didn't learn to read with phonics either. He took off with reading and his phonics skills were lagging too. However his spelling skills started to take off by the end of his first grade year. He has excellent spelling skills now. My younger son hasn't "taken off" with his spelling although I do see improvements. But I have pretty much done no spelling instruction. He is currently on book 3 of ETC online. What would you recommend? Should I focus on spelling and drop the phonics? Where can I find a comprehensive list of phonics and/or spelling rules? (This is a weak area for me as well since I didn't learn to read with phonics and know a word is spelled right by seeing it written correctly) Is there a spelling or phonics program that you would recommend? I'd like to see how he does with several months of instruction, but I would like to choose a method that would be helpful if he did have stealth dyslexia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 It sounds like you are a family of visual spatial learners. http://www.visualspatial.org The spelling methods described in Right Brained Children in a Left Brained World might work for you. Calvert Spelling on CD is what finally worked for my stealth dyslexic/VSL. If your kids are like my VSL, spelling lagged behind reading by quite a long time. If I could do it over again, I would not have worried so much about spelling in the early years. I stressed her out and still feel guilty about the emotional damage I probably did. I wasn't mean or anything like that; it's just that I wish I'd been more relaxed and believed that her spelling (and math) would improve eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonor Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 It sounds like you are a family of visual spatial learners. www.visualspatial.org :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabertmom Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I would recommend All about Spelling. I have a son who was a late reader (7-8), and every attempt at phonics failed, but as he was finally reading, I didn't worry about it. However, he still has severe spelling problems. After trying all sorts of things with little success, I started him at about age 11 on All about Spelling, and it is having a good effect. I just wish I had done it a lot sooner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailorMom Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Well - he sounds like my sons - they were whole-word kids. Phonics never clicked - ever. Just not how they were wired. I don't know if you could call it dyslexia, though. DS14 was whole word and spelled great, no other issues, etc - read very early. DS13 - totally different. Whole word or phonics, he was behind in reading untl after 3rd grade (I pulled him out in 1st). There are many other issues with dyslexia other than just the reading. Tying shoes, telling time on an analog clock, reversals (a lot of them), etc. Look up dyslexia and see if there are other indicators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 Thank you for the responses. I'm pretty sure my kids are non-sequential learners, but not sure about the visual. I've read Right Brained Children in a Left Brained World and did the test for my little guy. I was sure he would be right brained, but he came out as both brains. My other guy was a slight left brain. I've tried some of the visualization ideas with my younger son and it draws a blank from him. But I do know that if I attach meaning to something (especially if it is silly) that he will remember something well. For instance if he is trying to remember the Arabic word for thank you we will say something like "thank you for the cranberry shoes" because the Arabic word sounds a little like shoe-cran. I think my little guy may be more auditory-spatial with some difficulty with attention, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I do have the first level of AAS. I used it with my oldest son in first grade until he became too frustrated with it. He was reading very well for his age, but as a whole to parts learner trying to figure out if a vowel was short or long was very difficult. I can try it with my little guy to see how it goes for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 Look up dyslexia and see if there are other indicators. Yes, he does a lot of reversals and has done so for years. I have him correct them, but he doesn't see that a letter or number is written incorrectly. I have often thought that this was because he hadn't really learned them yet, but I'm not so sure now. In college I had a teacher pull me aside because she was concerned that I had dysgraphia because I kept writing characters of a new alphabet backwards. I just told her that I hadn't learned them yet. Once I really learned them I had no problem. My older son still writes some backwards, but he self-corrects because he sees that they are incorrect. My little guy used to write capital letters in place of ones he typically reverses (like b/d), but I have been working with him on capitalization lately so maybe that is why I am seeing so many reversals. Maybe the fact that he wrote a capital instead of lower case shows that he hasn't learned things like lowercase b/d enough yet. Repetition isn't an effective strategy with him. I have to connect something new with something already in his brain. So maybe I can try that to see if reversals will diminish. He was an early writer though. He could write capital letters accurately at age 3. I think he learned on a Leapster game. He has always enjoyed writing which is not a typical sign of dyslexia from what I have read. His handwriting may contain some reversals, but it is more on the "neat side" for his age. My little guy also tends to skip little words in his reading. We have been working on reading every word as it is written and he is doing better. He will sometimes look at the first part of a word and guess at what it is and it may be nothing like the written word. He can sound some things out especially if I separate a difficult word into parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Anyway, I do have the first level of AAS. I used it with my oldest son in first grade until he became too frustrated with it. He was reading very well for his age, but as a whole to parts learner trying to figure out if a vowel was short or long was very difficult. I can try it with my little guy to see how it goes for him. Many whole to parts learners don't have enough contextual knowledge to understand phonics until they are a bit older. My dd had phonics instructions for both reading and spelling from K-3, but she was so utterly frustrated with spelling that by 3rd grade she began pulling her hair and calling herself stupid. For 4th grade, we dropped SWR and started using Calvert Spelling on CD. Suddenly, spelling became her favorite subject. Finally, about the beginning of 5th grade, I saw that phonics instruction kicking in and making sense to her. That's why I would have been more relaxed about spelling in the early grades if I could do it over with her. AAS might work perfectly for your son if you wait and start it in 3rd or 4th grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 Many whole to parts learners don't have enough contextual knowledge to understand phonics until they are a bit older. My dd had phonics instructions for both reading and spelling from K-3, but she was so utterly frustrated with spelling that by 3rd grade she began pulling her hair and calling herself stupid. For 4th grade, we dropped SWR and started using Calvert Spelling on CD. Suddenly, spelling became her favorite subject. Finally, about the beginning of 5th grade, I saw that phonics instruction kicking in and making sense to her. That's why I would have been more relaxed about spelling in the early grades if I could do it over with her. I looked up Calvert Spelling on CD, but didn't find anything but an online program. Is that the same thing? What types of things does it have a child do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I looked up Calvert Spelling on CD, but didn't find anything but an online program. Is that the same thing? What types of things does it have a child do? Maybe they are offering it online now. We had physical CDs. Each day, the child is given a pre-test of 10 words. For each word they get wrong, they have to do "lab activities" such as spelling the word with (virtual) tiles. Every 5th day is a review lesson. When my dd learned a word from Calvert, she knew it for life. ETA: You probably know this, but Calvert is a school in Baltimore that sells its curriculum to homeschoolers. If you're not sure that what you found is the right thing, trying googling Calvert School Baltimore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamonaQ Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 It is online now, and the format is slightly different than you describe LizzyBee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I would have them watch my phonics lessons, they cover all the spelling rules and review phonics. Since you didn't get phonics, you might learn some things, too! I only learned a bit of phonics in school and have learned a lot through my years of tutoring with phonics and researching spelling and phonics rules. You could also work through the program on my how to tutor page, and even if you do the online lessons, I would print out the spelling and syllable division rules and the syllable division worksheets from my how to tutor page. (These files are linked at the end.) My spelling rules do not include suffix rules, there are a ton and I didn't have them in a handy written format. They are taught in my phonics lesson 22. http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/howtotutor.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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